


Missing

by Hawkeye_girl



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Clint Barton, Angry Tony Stark, Angst, Badass, Blackmail, Death Threats, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Kidnapping, Manipulation, No Spoilers, Panic Attacks, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Protective Bruce Banner, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Thor (Marvel), Protective Tony Stark, Survival, Survivor Guilt, Threats, Threats of Violence, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Worried Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-01-07 11:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 16,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18409766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkeye_girl/pseuds/Hawkeye_girl
Summary: It's Peter's birthday. Tony wants to surprise him.However, the kid can't be found. Can the Avengers find him before it's too late ?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys !  
> Don't worry, I'm still writing Not alone anymore ;)  
> Anyway, I had this idea, so tell me if you like it and don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you liked this first chapter !  
> Love you !  
> Hawkeye_girl

Tony wanted to surprise the kid. After all, it was not every day that you turned seventeen ! The billionaire was standing outside of Peter Parker’s high school, waiting for the boy to go out of the building to take him to the Avengers tower as his birthday gift. When the bell rang, teenagers started to go out, a few of them whispering as they noticed the Avenger next to his expensive car. Nearly all of the school knew that Peter Parker had his internship with the so famous Tony Stark, mostly thanks to Ned, who couldn’t stop talking about it…  
Anyway, all the teenagers got out, but not Peter. The playboy frowned a bit. Why wasn’t Peter out ? It was not -from what Stark had heard- one of Peter’s habits to stay at school after it was over… The brown-haired man suddenly noticed a boy. It was Ned, Peter’s best friend.

“- Hey, Ned ! Where is Peter ?”

The kid, seeing Tony Stark, dropped the books he was holding and stood there, his mouth wide open.

“- Earth to Ned”, declared the adult, trying not to sound too irritated by the lack of response. “Where is Peter Parker, aka your friend ?”

“- Mi… Mister Stark… Oh my god, that’s actually you ! Peter talks so much about you !”

“- Yes, Peter. Where is he ? I wanted to surprise him for his birthday !”

Ned’s face dropped.

“- He… He hasn’t come to school today… I tried to call him but he didn’t answer… Maybe he is sick and his phone died ? Is he in trouble ?”

All the blood seemed to have left Tony’s face. He stared at Ned for a few minutes, without actually looking at him. What had happened to the kid ? Surely he would have called if he had been sick… No, come on Tony, why would he have called you ? He had no reason to do so…  
Without another word for the kid standing in front of him, Stark ran to his car. He had to see May. Maybe Peter was actually sick and if he were, he would be with her. And if he weren’t… But Tony didn’t want to think about that.  
Driving as fast as he could, sometimes ignoring red lights, the Avenger couldn’t stop thinking. What if something had happened to Peter ? Was he okay ?  
In no time, Stark arrived in front of May’s door, he knocked on the door, as calmly as he could and tried to keep his breath under control. He waited for a few seconds and then, May’s face appeared, smiling.

“- Mister Stark ! How are you ? Peter hasn’t come back from school yet.”, declared the happy woman.

Tony felt his heart stopping. The kid wasn’t sick. He wasn’t with May. He hadn’t been to highschool for the whole day. Nobody knew where Peter Parker was. These thoughts kept turning into the genius’ mind as he was starting to hyperventilate.

“- Mister Stark ? Are you okay ? Is there something wrong ?”

“- I… I don’t feel so good…”, was all Tony could answer before everything got dark and he fell to his feet.

 

Stark slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on a couch, in what looked like the Parkers’ living room. He tried to get up, but stopped when black dots appeared in front of his eyes.

“- Where is Peter, Mister Stark ?”

Tony slowly turned his head and noticed May, sitting in a chair, her face paler than a sheet. She was biting her lip and twisting her fingers.

“- Is my baby safe ?”, whispered the woman, trying not to cry.

Stark gulped, not wanting to answer. Because he had no idea. Peter Parker could be anywhere now. The billionaire got up again, slower this time.

“- I need… I need to make a few calls…”

Peter was missing. And Tony was going to do anything to bring him back. He knew the most powerful persons in the world and he knew they would do anything to help the kid. He took his phone, searched through the contacts list and selected one.

“- Steve ? Gather the team and get everyone to the tower. We need to talk.”

 

Peter woke up. Everything was dark around him. He couldn’t hear or see anything. He was tied up to a chair in what seemed to be an empty room. A cold draught sent shivers down his spine. How did he have ended up like this ? His usual luck, probably… He perfectly remembered getting up this morning, going outside to take his bus, but then… Nothing.  
The young superhero jumped when he heard the door opening up. The light invaded the room and blinded the kid for a few seconds. He blinked quickly and noticed the shape of a man, standing in front of him. Because of the light coming from behind the man, the teenager couldn’t get a good look at his face but he heard his voice.

“- So that’s the kid ? That’s Stark’s little protégé ?”

The man had spat the word Stark as if it was an insult. Peter rose his head angrily.

“- What do you want from me ?”

The kid tried to look confident, but his trembling voice betrayed him. The man laughed mockingly at the teenager, who clenched his fists. 

“- Oh, I don’t want anything from you, Peter…”, replied the voice, almost tenderly. “ Just stay still while the adults are talking…”

Parker wanted to yell at the man but thought that it would only amuse him. He noticed that the shape was holding something and was raising it in front of him. It looked like a camera.

“- Say “hi” to Tony Stark, kiddo !”

The flash blinded Peter again. He was starting to get genuinely worried.

“- What the hell are you doing ?”, he yelled, noticing that this time his voice actually sounded threatening.

“- Oh, you know… Just telling Tony Stark that you are in good hands…”, replied the sarcastic voice. “And if he cooperates with us, you won’t get in any kind of trouble. Maybe.”

Peter’s heartbeat started to increase. He was some kind of leverage. Whoever was standing in front of him was an enemy of Mister Stark and wanted to hurt him by kidnapping Peter.

“- What do you want from Mister Stark ?”, asked Parker, as calmly as he could.

“- Oh, so we have one clever Spider-boy here...”

“- It’s Spider-Man !”, spat the kid, before someone slapped him.

“- Don’t interrupt me…”, hissed the shape. “Yes, I plan on hurting Stark by hurting you, but if you annoy me too much, I guess I’m just going to kill you… So don’t push your luck !”

The man quickly exited the room and slammed the door behind him. Everything was dark again around Peter. He was alone.  
He was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS ARE INSANE !  
> I NEVER HAD SO MANY KUDOS AND BOOKMARKS IN ONLY 24H !!!  
> I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, HERE IS ANOTHER CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU'LL LIKE IT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKED THE FIRST ONE !!!  
> Hawkeye_girl

Tony arrived first at the tower. Slamming the elevator button, he couldn’t stop cursing at himself. He was the one who had brought Peter into that whole superhero thing. It was his fault if something had happened to him. His thoughts stopped when the elevator doors opened and Tony felt someone wrapping their arms around him.

“- I just saw your text… We are going to find him, Tony…”

Pepper’s voice relaxed the billionaire a bit as he pulled her into a tighter hug.

“- I just… I feel like that’s on me, Pep…”, answered the man, trying to hold back a sob.

He was keeping his head in the woman’s shoulder so he didn’t have to make direct eye contact. Tony didn’t want the love of his life to see how shameful he was.

“- Shhhh… It’s gonna be okay…”, the woman kept repeating, while rubbing her lover’s back.

 

Steve arrived second. He didn’t wait for the elevator. He knew getting upstairs would be faster for him if he just ran. When he arrived in the billionaire’s living room, he noticed its owner, pacing and looking at the ground. When he heard the door opening, he rose his head and his eyes lit up a little seeing his friend.

“- Tony, what’s going on ? It sounded like an emergency…”

“- Peter… Peter is missing…”, answered the brown-haired man, looking at his feet.

“- Oh, God…”, was all the super soldier could reply.

“- I’m not sure God has anything to do with any of this…”, Tony tried to joke but he sounded so desperate to Steve that it actually worried him.

“- Anyway, I assume we will have a god on our side, since Thor is coming… You called him too, right ?” asked the playboy.

Steve nodded. They were going to need every member of the team to find the teenager as soon as possible…

“- Today is his birthday, Steve…”, whined Tony. “He was kidnapped on his birthday… It’s my fault, I was the one who made him an Avenger…”

The blue-eyed man put a reassuring hand on the genius’ shoulder.

“- It’s not your fault, Tony.”, assured the super soldier, looking directly into his friend’s eyes. “We will find him.”

“- What if we don’t find him before it’s too late…”, whispered the inventor.

“- Don’t say that.”, ordered the captain. “ We won’t let that happen and you know it.”

Stark simply nodded. He was too worried to fight.

 

Thor arrived third. He directly landed on the tower’s roof. He hadn’t come right away, having to solve some “problems” in Alfheim… The “problems” being the planning of an invasion of Asgard. Once being solved, mostly thanks to the swinging of a mighty hammer, Thor had immediately come back to Midgard. He had received a text from the Captain of America that looked like there was some kind of an emergency. The Man of Iron had given Thor a device that the Midgardians called “phone” and that allowed the god to stay in touch with his team-mates. It had proven its utility many times.  
The god of thunder barged into the room, where he found said Man of Iron and the Captain of America. The first one was sitting on his couch, his head in his hands. The second was nervously walking, his arms crossed. They both turned around when they heard Thor.

“- Thor ! Thank God, you got my text…”, greeted Steve.

“- Why should I thank myself…?”, replied the confused blond man.

Rogers blinked a few times, but then shook his head.

“- Nevermind, I’m glad you are here.”, he said.

“- What’s going on ?”, asked the god of thunder. “Chitauris ? Hydra ?”

“- Peter…” came the broken voice of Stark.

“- The Spiderling ? What’s wrong with him ?”, interrogated the concerned man.

He liked the boy. The teenager had recently taught him what “yeet” meant and had tried it a few times with his brother while doing “get help”.

“- Peter is nowhere to be found”, replied the Captain when he noticed Tony wasn’t going to answer.

“- Who took him ?”, yelled Thor, while tightening his hold on his hammer.

“- We don’t know”, replied Stark, tiredly. “We don’t even know if he is alive....”

“- Tony…”

“- Don’t try to overprotect me, Rogers ! You know damn well it’s a possibility !”

“- If he were dead, there would be a body…”, replied a calm, feminine voice.

“- Romanov ! Didn’t hear you coming…”

 

Natasha arrived fourth. She had just arrested a few arms dealers when she had seen Steve’s text. She got to the tower as quickly as possible, swearing in russian when she got stopped by the traffic. It sounded like it was pretty serious…  
When she finally arrived, she heard people talking in Stark’s living room.

“- Peter is nowhere to be found”, came Steve’s voice.

Natasha stopped breathing. Someone had abducted the kid. Why would someone do something like that to a teenager ? Stark’s voice brought her back to reality.

“- We don’t even know if he is alive…”

“- Tony…”

“- Don’t try to overprotect me, Rogers ! You know damn well it’s a possibility !”

Natasha decided it was time to speak.

“- If he were dead, there would be a body…”, she declared.

“- Romanov ! Didn’t hear you coming…”

“- Maybe that’s because I’m a spy, Steve… We are supposed to be quiet…”, she replied ironically.

She turned towards Stark.

“- How did it happen ? Did you see anything ?”

“- Nothing… I was going to get him at his school. He wasn’t there. His friend told me he hadn’t come today. I went to see his aunt who told me he had left this morning as he always does…”

“- Which means whoever took him abducted him on his way to school.”assured Natasha.

“- Yeah… What are they doing to him...?”

 

Clint arrived fifth, cursing. Those freaking bad guys never stopped, right ? Not even when he was taking Laura out for dinner... He quickly arrived upstairs where he noticed all of the Avengers, except Banner. He scanned the room. Nat was unreadable, as usual, for anyone who didn’t know her. But for Clint, it was obvious that she was worried. Her pupils were slightly dilated, and her shoulders were tensed. Thor was angry, he held his hammer tighter than usual. Steve was biting his lips and rubbing his eyes. Worried and tired. He had probably spent too much time training last night, as usual… Tony was the easiest one to read. He wasn’t looking at anyone, was holding his head in his hands and his whole body was taking as little place as possible. Guilt and shame…

“- What’s going on here ?”, asked the bowman.

Everybody jumped in the room, except Natasha obviously, who had noticed him getting in.

“- What the hell is wrong with you superspies ?!”, yelled Tony. “Can’t you just be noisy as everyone is ? You almost gave me a heart-attack…”

“- Peter disappeared…”, explained Steve, while Tony was trying to keep his breath under control.

“- Oh shit…”

That’s why everyone was so worried. Someone had abducted a teenager. A teenager that they all considered as their kid. Well, especially Stark, but still… Whoever did this was going to pay for this.

“- We are still waiting for Bruce and then we are going to investigate near Peter’s high school.”, explained Natasha. “He never got there this morning…”

Clint nodded. They were going to find the kid. They had to.

 

Bruce arrived sixth. He had found a job as a sciences teacher at the nearest university. He hadn’t seen Steve’s text until he had gotten out of class. He had then come straight to the tower. Once arrived, he noticed everyone was there. It had to be really serious if Steve had called everyone.

“- Banner, you’re here…”, declared Rogers. “Peter has been abducted…”

“- Or killed…”, added Stark, grimly.

“- I told you, if he were dead, we would have found his body…”, insisted Black Widow.

“- Nat… This isn’t going to help him…”, whispered Clint knowingly.

“- Wait… Wait, what ?”, asked Banner, holding his hands up. “Someone took Peter ?”

Every person in the room nodded, looking down.

“- We were waiting for you before going to investigate where Peter has last been seen…”, explained Steve.

“- Okay, let’s go !”, ordered Tony.

“- Mister Stark, a package has been delivered for you.”

JARVIS’ voice interrupted everyone dead in their tracks. They all looked at each others. Could it be related to Peter’s disappearance ?  
Tony slowly walked towards the box where there was “mail” written on it and opened it. A small package appeared, coming from downstairs. The inventor took it, carefully, as if it was going to disintegrate itself into his own hands. No sound could be heard in the room. Stark looked up and met Steve’s eyes.

“- You should open it, Tony…”, declared the super soldier, gently.

The playboy, who always looked so confident, seemed now completely frightened. He carefully ripped the package open. There was a tape in it. And a picture.

“- Oh my god…”, whispered the genius, before fainting to the ground.

Steve quickly caught the falling man and put it on his couch. Meanwhile, Bruce had caught the picture. His face became completely white.

“- It’s him… It’s Peter…”, he declared to the rest of the team, showing the picture.

It was indeed their Spider-Man, looking absolutely terrified.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to create a villain so I mixed Ivan Vanko from Iron Man II and Aldrich Killian from Iron Man III, making Aldrich Vanko.  
> Hope you guys like this chapter !  
> Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you like this story !  
> Love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

It seemed that everyone had stopped breathing in the living room of the Avengers tower. Bruce was still holding the dreadful picture and couldn’t take his eyes away from it. The teenager was tied up to a chair and he had some dried blood on the side of his forehead.  
Tony was conscious again, lying on his couch, but didn’t -or couldn’t- speak. Instead, he was staring at the ceiling, mumbling to himself.  
Clint and Natasha were staring at each other, looking like they had some kind of a telepathic conversation. Suddenly, the bowman spoke up.

“- We need to watch that tape.”

He met Steve’s gaze. Clint could see the Captain’s pursed lips, a clear sign of disapproval. Rogers wanted to protect Tony, but they didn’t have time for that. Not if they wanted to find Peter back in time.

“- Clint, it may be better to wait…”, started Natasha.

“- To wait for what ? Another picture ? Or worse: a finger ?”, replied Clint, beginning to get exasperated.

Steve was about to say something when he got interrupted.

“- Let’s watch it.”

Everyone turned around to look at Tony. His face was still pale, but he had gotten up and look determined and ready to face the truth. The inventor took the tape from Banner’s hand and put it into the DVD player. Everyone held their breath as the video started playing. A man could be seen on the screen, however his face was hidden by a hood.

“- Good evening Mister Stark…”, began a voice. It had been changed by some sort of software. It was too harsh, too deep to be a real voice.

Tony’s jaw tightened when he heard his name, but he kept watching.

“- I hope you enjoyed my little present… Peter is safe, don’t worry. We just had to knock him unconscious to bring him with us. But he is fine now. And he will be if you play by the rules. My rules.”

Thor was having a hard time controlling his anger. If the man kept talking, he wasn’t sure he would be able to stop himself for throwing Mjolnir into the TV.

“- You have a choice. You can start building weapons for Aldrich Vanko. Or you can say goodbye to your precious little spider… You see, I’m kind of a nice guy: it’s your choice. You have 24h to give me your answer, as a public announcement, on TV.”

The video ended. Everyone turned to look at Tony.

“- Who is Aldrich Vanko ?”, asked Banner. “That name rings a bell…”

“- He is an arm dealer”, replied Natasha before Stark could say anything.

“- He asked me to work for him a long time ago, before I became Iron Man. But I knew who he was, so I refused… He swore to me he would get his revenge.”

“- Let’s get him then !”, boomed Thor.

The god of thunder was about to swing his hammer when Stark stopped him, putting a hand on his arm.

“- It’s useless…”, stated the playboy, tiredly.

All the Avengers looked at him in confusion. Clint and Natasha looked at each other and seemed to remember something at the same time.

“- Oh no…”, they let out simultaneously.

The billionaire chuckled darkly when he saw them. The situation could have been funny if Peter’s life hadn’t been at risk.

“- Aldrich Vanko is the chief of the New-York police…”, declared Clint, almost talking to himself.

“- He is untouchable…”, completed Natasha, shaking her head.

Stark emitted a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

“- So what do we do ?”, asked a discouraged Steve Rogers.

“- What if we show the tape to…”, started Banner.

“- The police ?”, answered Tony with a dark laugh.

Nobody dared to answer. Even if someone at the police believed the message to be real, no one would attack their chief…

“- Then we free Peter by ourselves.”

All the Avengers turned to look at Clint. He had a resolved look in his eyes. When he saw he had everyone’s attention, he spoke again:

“- We are the Avengers, right ? You really think the police is going to stop us ? A member of our team has been abducted and we are just going to sit there, doing nothing ? I don’t care if we’ll be going alone against all the forces of the New-York police. A kid is in danger. We have to save him.”

Tony looked at the bowman for a few seconds. He looked really agitated and eager to go out to look for Peter. The genius nodded his head to thank Barton.

“- If you think you are going without me, you are greatly mistaken”, declared Natasha, while pushing Clint playfully with her elbow.

“- I’m coming too !”, yelled Thor. “A good warrior never turns down a fight, especially when it’s for a noble cause !”

“- I’m in too”, stated Rogers. “Someone has to control you all, or you will all get arrested”, he joked.

“- Remind me how many times you have broken the law, Rogers ?”, asked Tony, snarkily.

“- More than you, since I’m older than you”, replied the supersoldier, glad to hear the inventor joking.

The team looked at Bruce, who hadn’t spoken yet. He was fidgeting with his lab coat. Without looking at anyone in particular, he asked:

“- Will the other one… Will Hulk have to...appear ?”

Seeing that nobody answered, he shrugged and added:

“- It’s just… I don’t want to lose control, let alone near the kid…”

“- We will help you to come back, Bruce”, assured Natasha.

The doctor shrugged again before raising his hands.

“- Okay, I surrender… You guys win…”

“- Perfect !”, declared Steve. Let’s go to Peter’s high school, see if we find anything useful.”

“- I’ll stay here to do some research on Vanko”, declared Tony. “You with me, Banner ?”

“- Sure !”, replied a relieved scientist. “I like it here, no bad guys to fight…”

“- Then, I’ll take Barton, Thor and Roma…”, started Rogers.

“- Actually, I think I’ll go talk to Peter’s aunt.”, explained Natasha. “Someone has to tell her.”

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

“- Okay, good luck everyone”, stated the super soldier before leaving the room, followed by his teammates.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys  
> Sorry, it's been a few days... It was a bit hard for me to write while Notre-Dame was burning. I'm French and seeing my cathedral burning like that... Well, it was hard. But here you go ! New chapter !  
> Have fun and don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you like this story !  
> Hawkeye_girl

Natasha took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy. But she had been trained to become many characters. And even if her former trainers seemed to be completely devoid of any form of empathy, she had been taught how to seem compassionate and caring when she needed to be. And when she had found Clint -or when Clint had found her- she had discovered the true meaning of these words, and even more when she had joined the Avengers.  
However, nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared her for that. How do you tell someone that the kid they see as their kid is missing ? Gathering all of her courage, Natasha knocked on the door. It opened a few seconds later, revealing May’s pale face. When she saw Romanov, she immediately started talking:

“- I recognize you ! You are one of them ! You are an Avenger, you work with Tony Stark. Have you found Peter ? Is he safe ?”

Natasha waited patiently that May stopped talking, and when she did, the spy opened her mouth.

“- Miss Parker, we have strong reasons to believe that your nephew has been abducted.”

The brunette opened her mouth in total disbelief, trying to say something, anything at all. When she found her voice back, she stuttered:

“- Wha… What happened ? Wh… Where is he ? Who took him ?”

The Black Widow tried to keep her face as unreadable as possible. She gulped before announcing:

“- We can’t tell you anything about it right now, it would be too dangerous for you, or for Peter. However, I can tell you that we are going to do everything to find him. We will keep you updated.”

May stood there, looking at Natasha, a feeling of betrayal spreading all over her face. The brunnette opened her mouth and Romanov thought that Peter’s aunt was going to yell at her but she just demanded:

“- Find him.”

With that, May closed the door, leaving Natasha all alone with her thoughts. She sighed. She had done the right thing. She had done what was expected from her. Her job here was done. Better go back to the tower to see how the others were doing.

 

“- It’s here. It’s Peter’s school.”, declared Steve.

The building was now completely empty of any students and teachers as it was starting to be late. The sun was lowering and shadows of the trees were getting longer and longer. The three Avengers were facing the school and none of them seemed to be wishing to investigate the surroundings. To look for clues about Peter’s disappearance was only making it much more real than just talking about it. And it was making it so much worse.

“- We should get started”, stated Clint.

Steve nodded, and soon all three of them were searching around, trying to find anything that could be connected to their little Spider-Man. They looked everywhere, however nothing could be found.

“- This was made by professionals…”, admitted Steve. “They covered their tracks. We are not going to find anything here…”

Clint suddenly raised his head, and even in the darkness of the beginning of the night, the super soldier could see a sparkle in the archer’s eye.

“- Maybe that’s because we are not looking at the right place !”, declared the bowman excitedly. “ We didn’t look near his bus stop ! If his friends didn’t see him today, maybe that’s because he didn’t even make it to the bus !”

“- Let’s go then !”, commanded Thor. 

The god grabbed his two friends, swang his hammer, and before anyone had a chance to react, they were all flying. Thor was carrying the two Avengers, including a super soldier, as if it was nothing for him. A few minutes later, they all arrived near Peter’s bus stop. Clint took a few hesitant steps before throwing up in the alley.

“- Don’t EVER do that again without warning me first !”, declared the bowman, weakly.

Steve had already started looking around and quickly alerted his friends:

“- Guys, I found something !”

The soldier put his arm into a bin and when he got it out, he was holding a backside. Steve took a look into it. There were notebooks inside, and on them, there was “Peter Parker”, written on it.

“- Looks like those guys aren’t so professional, after all…”, stated Clint, grimly.

The bowman took the backpack from Steve’s hands and started searching. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he raised his head and met Rogers’ eyes.

“- His cellphone. Where is his cellphone ? If Peter still has it, we can track it !”

Steve quickly reached for his own phone and dialed a number.

“- Tony ? Can you track Peter’s phone ? We found his backpack but not his cellphone. Okay, start looking, we’ll meet you at the tower.”

The super soldier ended the call and turned towards his friends.

“- Let’s go ! Clint, you are okay if Thor takes us to the tower ? It will go faster this way.”

The archer grimaced but still nodded. The god of thunder grabbed the two Avengers and they headed for the skies. In no time, they were at the tower. Thor released his two friends and they all went into Stark’s living room. The genius was there, with Banner and Natasha, who had arrived a few minutes earlier.  
Tony was typing as fast as he could on his computer, while Bruce was watching over the playboy’s shoulder. Unlike the scientist and the spy, Tony didn’t even rose his head when Clint, Thor and Steve entered the room. He was too busy to even notice they were here.

“- Eureka !”, suddenly yelled the genius.

When he saw everyone’s look of confusion, he quickly explained:

“- It’s greek for “I found it”... Come on, guys, seriously ?”

When he saw that nobody answered, the billionaire kept going:

“- Bruce and I found earlier that Aldrich Vanko has an old building where he used to produce weapons but is now closed because it was too old. AND because of that, Vanko never could sell it. He could have destroyed it, but that would have cost him money and, knowing Vanko, he would rather use it to keep producing weapons, in all illegality. And to keep prisoners.”

“- We weren’t really sure Peter would be there, until Clint mentioned the cellphone”, continued Bruce.

“- I should have thought about this…”, whispered Tony, rubbing his eyes.

“- It’s okay, Tony, you were worried, and under a lot of pressure...”, reassured Steve.

“- Anyway”, declared Banner. “We tracked down Peter’s phone. It’s in this exact building.”

“- The only problem…”, started Tony. “The only problem is that even with the Quinjet, we won’t be there in less than five hours… And we have already spent two hours looking for clues. So if this is a trap…”

The playboy didn’t finish his sentence but everyone understood. If it were a trap, they wouldn’t have enough time to look for other clues to save Peter… The Avengers looked at each other, except Stark, who kept his head low.

“- If you let me drive, I can get us there in four hours.”, stated Clint, with a resolved look.

Steve nodded then spoke up:

“- Okay, everyone suit up, and then, to the Quinjet !”

“- EVERYONE has to put their seatbelt on !”, insisted Barton, looking pointedly at Tony, who shrugged a bit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY  
> I know, it's been 10 days, but I was trying to avoid endgame spoilers, and then i had to recover from that freaking movie !  
> Anyway, new chapter !  
> Have fun, cry a lot and leave kudos !

The Quinjet was flying as fast as possible, definitely a lot faster than what Fury would have had allowed, but Fury wasn’t there and Peter was in danger, so there was nothing to stop Clint from going as fast as he wanted. Also, Tony couldn’t stop asking when they were going to arrive.

“- Tony, for the billionth time, I’m doing the best I can !”, replied the archer to the playboy who had asked his question once more.

“- Well, that’s not enough !”, stated Stark, irritated.

The bowman didn’t reply, knowing that the billionaire was terrified of what could happen to Peter while Vanko had him, and that it was Tony’s way of coping with fear.  
Stark saw the pained look on Clint’s face and shook his head. It wasn’t Barton’s fault if Peter was missing. On the contrary, he was helping finding him.

“- I’m sorry, Clint, I overreacted.”, declared the genius before turning away.

He was going to join the rest of the team in the back of the Quinjet when the spy’s voice stopped him.

“- I never told you when we almost lost Cooper, right ?”

Stark slowly turned back to face the bowman, who was looking straight in front of him, avoiding eye contact.

“- He was about ten. Laura and I had taught him not to talk to strangers. Once, he was coming back from school. A man offered him candy. Coop refused so the man forcibly put him into his car and drove away. We were able to find him back only because we were extremely lucky: some lady had witnessed the whole thing and had remembered the number plate. We found Cooper a day later. No harm had been done to him, thank God. But for twenty-four hours, I couldn’t breathe. For twenty-four hours, I felt like my heart had been ripped of my chest.”

Tony was silently listening to the archer, who was still not looking at him, and whose voice was trembling. The genius looked at his feet as Clint continued:

“- I was feeling like I had failed him. Because I hadn’t been there when he had needed me. And I know that’s how you feel right now. I’ve seen how you look at the kid. He’s like your son.”

As the genius didn’t protest, Clint kept going:

“- It’s not your fault if Peter was abducted. It’s only Vanko’s one.”

“- This asshole abducted Peter because of my connection to him…”, muttered Stark through gritted teeth.”

“- We are going to find him, Tony”,assured Barton. “And this bastard is going to pay.”

A few seconds passed, during which none of them spoke. But suddenly Stark sat in the copilot’s seat, forcing the archer to look at him.

“- Thanks Barton.”

“- You’re welcome, buddy”, replied the agent, with a small smile. “Oh, and to answer your previous questions, we will land in about fifteen minutes, so why don’t you tell everybody to sit down and buckle up ?”

The genius nodded and soon Barton heard Stark’s sarcastic voice:

“- Alright everyone, put your seatbelt on, orders from the man at the commands and he is NOT kidding !”

“- How are we going to do this ?”, asked Banner’s nervous voice.

“- Well”, came Steve’s calm voice, “I think we all agree that they are not going to just give us Peter back if we ask them nicely…”

“- We could try !”, joked Clint.

“- Anyway, I think we all know that we are going to fight. Banner, you can stay here, we will call you if we need the other guy.”

Barton couldn’t see Bruce’s face, but he had no problem picturing the look of relief he was probably wearing right now. Something popped up on his screen that caught his attention.

THERMAL ENERGY: 5 PEOPLE

“- Guys, there are only five people in this building according to JARVIS…”, declared Clint, concerned.

“- Well, that’s good, isn’t it ?”, asked Thor. “Even though it will be less fun…”

“- It’s not good at all”, replied Natasha. “Either they don’t need more people because their weapons are extremely powerful, or because…”

“- Because Peter is not here…”, completed Steve and Tony together.

“- Wow, new level of “we finish each other's sentences”, now it’s “we say the same sentences to finish someone else’s sentences””, Clint tried to joke but the knot in his throat made it sound a lot less funny than what it was supposed to be.

“- Let’s take a look anyway”, declared Rogers. “Right now, we have nowhere else to go, no other clue about Peter.”

“- The old man is right”, stated Tony. “For once.”

“- Okay, then let’s go.”, said Clint.

 

All of the Avengers exited the Quinjet silently, firmly holding their weapons. None of them dared to speak, not even Tony or Thor. Because they didn’t know what was waiting for them in this building, but they all feared one thing: not finding Peter there.  
The team arrived in front of the door. One swing of Mjolnir and one second later, the door was gone. Bullets started flying through the hole left by the absence of the door. Thor ducked just in time to avoid them.

“- We go first, Cap”, declared Tony, forming a shield with his armour. “We cover the rest of the team so they can shoot whatever they have to shoot.”

The Captain quickly nodded and soon, they all entered the building, Steve and Tony leading the team, Thor shooting lightning from above, and Clint and Nat shooting bullets and arrows from behind their teammates.  
It didn’t take long. A few minutes later, the threat had been eliminated. Looking around, Tony spotted one of the guard who was still half-conscious.

“- Where is he ? Where is my so… Where is Peter ?”

The man started to laugh. A dark laugh that seemed to turn Tony’ blood into ice.

“- He is… not here…”, laughed the man. “You will… never find him… But when Vanko is going to hear about that… Believe me… Your son will be screwed… You should have taken the deal…”

Anger flowing through his body, Tony punched the man in the face, knocking him unconscious. Raising his head, he saw Steve running toward him.

“- We were right Tony, Peter’s phone is here.”

The Captain handed Stark the phone, who took it, tears blurring his vision. He had seen this phone before, since he had been the one who had offered him to Peter.  
Taking the object preciously, Tony looked up and met Steve’s eyes.

“- He is not here, Cap, he is not here, Vanko is going to make him pay…”

Unable to hold them back anymore, the genius started crying, over and over until he couldn’t breathe normally. The playboy began falling to his feet, only to be caught midway by Steve who carried him back into the Quinjet.

“- I take it he wasn’t there…?”, asked Bruce’s sad voice.

“- Nah…”, replied Clint, sounding disappointed.

It was all Tony heard before passing out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I just want you to suffer :D  
> Leave kudos if you liked this chapter !  
> Hawkeye_girl

Peter heard the footsteps seconds before the door opened. The light blinded him again. He had lost all consciousness of time. He had no idea what time it was, not even if it was nighttime or daytime. The only thing he knew was that he was thirsty, hungry, and really needed to go to the bathroom.  
The shadow appeared in front of him, fortunately blocking some of the light. Peter could tell it was the same man that the one who had come earlier. He had the same broad shoulders, the same short hair, and especially, he had the same arrogant pose when facing Peter.  
The man stayed silent for a minute before declaring:

“- You have some loyal friends, kiddo, I’ll give you that…”

Peter stopped breathing and felt his heartbeat increasing. Was Mister Stark looking for him ? Probably, since the silhouette had certainly sent that picture… The teenager let out a sigh of relief. Mister Stark was looking for him. The genius was going to find him. Everything was going to be okay.  
The superhero got interrupted in the middle of his thoughts when he heard a small chuckle coming from the man standing in front of him. 

“- What’s so funny ?”

“- You really think this so-called genius is going to come and save you ? He is never going to find you. No way.”, laughed the man.

Parker gulped with difficulty when his enemy started talking again:

“- You see… I asked Stark… No, I expressly TOLD him to make a public announcement where he would say he was going to build weapons for me. But I guess he didn’t think I was serious. So I think now is the time to show him how serious I am about this…”

That’s when Peter noticed it. The small red dot, blinking again and again. The man was carrying a camera, which was recording the whole thing.

“- Mister Stark ! I’m fine ! I’m totally fine, don’t worry about me !”, yelled the kid to the object.

“- Well, you are fine for now, but I doubt it will last…”, replied the calm, suave voice.

The teenager looked at him, confused. When he understood the full meaning of these words, his face became completely white.

“- What are you going to do to me ?”

“- Stark and his team tried to find you. And because they are just a bunch of morons, they fell right into my trap. So now, I know that they were trying to find you instead of taking the deal. And they are going to pay for that. I’m afraid you are going to be the first to pay, my dear Mister Parker…”

Another man came into the room, while the shadow was still recording everything. The new silhouette seemed to be holding something too. When he got closer, Peter recognized the shape of what was in his hands. A hammer.

“- Break one of his wrist”, ordered the first man, sounding slightly bored.

“- Waitwaitwaitwait, this is one big misunderstanding !”, stuttered the teenager trying to get free from the ropes tying him to the chair.

One second later, he felt a searing white pain going in all his body, coming from his left wrist. He tried his hardest. He tried not to yell. But he failed. Because the pain was just too much for him to handle. So he yelled at the top of his lungs, until his throat hurt as much as his wrist hurt. When he couldn’t scream anymore, he just collapsed in his chair, sobbing.

“- Thank you Peter, I think that will do it. You were very cooperative”, cooed the sarcastic voice.

“- Fuck you”, whispered the boy.

The man, who had started leaving the room, turned back, and Peter could feel his gaze on him. The shadow got closer and closer until Parker could feel the man’s breath on his face.

“- Do you want me to break your other wrist, young man ? Because I have no problem doing it…”

Peter didn’t answer. He was too tired to make such an effort. The man nodded and headed for the door. Before leaving, he turned towards his partner.

“- Knock him unconscious and transfer him to the other room.

No…

NO

Parker felt like his skull exploded as the man hit him. Everything became white, then black.

 

Tony woke up. He was still in the Quinjet. Someone had pulled a blanket over him. The sun was rising slowly behind the mountains. Looking around, he saw that most of his teammates were asleep. Except for Clint, who was still driving the vehicle, and for Steve, who was busy bandaging his left leg.

“- What the hell happened to you ?”

The Captain rose his head and smile sadly when he met Tony’s eyes.

“- One of those bastards wasn’t completely dead and shot me in the leg when we went back into the building to look for other clues… “, explained Rogers. “We didn’t find anything of course. But don’t worry, I’m fine ! Banner says it’s just a scratch.”

“- That’s not EXACTLY what I said…”, grumbled a voice from the end of the Quinjet.

“- Hey Bruce !”, greeted Tony, even though at the moment he felt more like jumping off the plane.

He had failed the kid. They were back at square one. And he had spoiled three, maybe four hours sleeping while he should have been looking for Peter… The billionaire noticed Steve’s look and interrupted him before he even got the chance to say anything.

“- I’m fine, Cap. Don’t worry about me. And as a matter of fact: Barton, you want me to drive ? I bet you haven’t slept all night…”

“- Thanks Stark but since we weren’t really in a hurry anymore, without clues, I put on the automatic pilot an slept a couple of hours. I’m taking back the commands for the landing. Which should happen in… about fifteen minutes.”, replied the bowman, trying not to yawn.

Tony rubbed his eyes. He needed to do something. Anything that would prevent him from getting crazy. It was his fault. Everything was his goddamn fault !  
The playboy rose his eyes and saw everyone looking at him in a weird way.

“- Wait… I didn’t say that out loud, did I…?”

When nobody answered, he simply shrugged and looked down.

“- It’s not your fault, Tony…”, Natasha tried to say, before getting interrupted by Stark.

“- Well then, whose it is ? Yours ? Steve’s ? PETER’S ?”, he yelled, getting up. “It’s on me and you know it…”

He fell back in his seat as Steve declared:

“- It’s Vanko’s fault, Tony… Only his.”

Tony shook his head, refusing to make any eye contact. That’s when JARVIS’ voice echoed in the Quinjet:

“- Sir, a package has been delivered to you.”

All of the Avengers looked at each other as Tony let out a loud whine that brought tears into Natasha’s eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow  
> 117 kudos  
> This my first fic going past 100 kudos  
> Tank you guys, thank you so much  
> You are the reason I keep writing this story  
> You are awesome  
> Please keep leaving kudos (and comments ! Coments are reaaaally important to writers too !)  
> I love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

“- Do you want me to do it, Tony ?”, gently asked Steve.

The inventor was holding the package and seemed on the verge of having a panic attack. Meeting the super soldier’s eyes, he shook his head nervously, not trusting his voice to answer without trembling.  
Taking a deep breath, Stark ripped the thing open. There was no pictures in it this time. Just a tape. Who looked exactly like the one from before. And that’s when it happened. The moment Tony laid his eyes on the tape, he began hyperventilating while his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

“- Shit, he is having a panic attack !” Clint exclaimed.

“- Everyone, make space !”, ordered Bruce firmly, while calmly guiding his friend towards the couch.

The genius fell rather than he sat on the couch while Banner was still talking.

“- Okay Tony, I need you to focus. Deep breaths, that’s it. Focus on what you can see, what you can hear, what you can smell,...”

Meanwhile, the Avengers were gathered on the other side of the room, giving the science bros some space.

“- What is wrong with our brother of iron ?”, asked Thor, a look of concern on his face.

“- It’s a panic attack.”, replied Steve. “I have seen that a lot amongst soldiers…”

“- There is not much to do”, added Natasha. “Except waiting, and talking to the person until they calm down…”

Saying that, she casted a quick glance at Clint, who explained:

“- I had panic attacks after...after Loki. His whole mind-control thing kind of messed up my brain… Nat helped me with those. If you are well surrounded, everything goes not too bad…”

Thor slowly nodded. Looking swiftly at Tony, the Avengers noticed that the genius seemed to be a little better. He tried to get up but got stopped by Banner, who forced him to stay on the couch.

“- We can do this later, Tony. We are all exhausted, you had to fight, Steve got hurt, none of us got enough sleep,...”

“- I want to… Bruce, I NEED to do it. I need to watch this…”, pleaded the playboy.

“- Tony…”

“- No, don’t start, Steve !”, replied Stark to the Captain. “It’s not because I had a small panic attack that I won’t do whatever it takes to save Peter !”

“- It wasn’t a small pa…”, started Steve when he got interrupted by Natasha.

“- Panic attacks don’t mean you are weak.”

“- What ?”

“- Oh, come on, Stark”, explained the spy, “I know what you think. It was just the same with Clint… Just because you have a panic attack when you are about to see a boy you see as your son probably getting tortured doesn’t make you weak. It’s a normal reaction from a human being. Same when you are mind-controlled by a god.”

Clint was uncomfortably looking at his shoes while Tony looked at everyone in confusion. Why didn’t they think he was weak ? Or at least weird ? He realized suddenly:

“- Wait… A boy I see as my son ?”

“- Isn’t it true ?”

“- Well… Uh… I mean… Is that so obvious ?!”

“- Even without my super vision I would have seen it”, chuckled Clint.

Tony shook his head, trying to get his thoughts together. His eyes fell on the tape he had dropped during his panic attack. Exhaling and inhaling deeply several times, he picked it up carefully, as if it was going to bite him.

“- You can go rest if you want. I won’t be able to without watching this first.”, declared the resolved billionaire.

Quickly looking around him, he saw that nobody was moving. Smiling to himself, he realized that these people definitely were his second family and that they would probably not abandon him, even in times like those. Or at least, he hoped they wouldn’t.

“- We are staying.”, stated Steve, speaking in the name of the team.

The Avengers nodded while Tony slowly got closer to the DVD player. The last time he had used it, one of his deadliest enemy had threatened to hurt his kid. This time, it was probably going to be worse…

Stark switched on the TV. The man with the hood appeared on the screen. His familiar voice echoed in the room as he explained:

“- I gave you simple explanations. Make a public statement on TV where you say you work with Aldrich Vanko. I guess they weren’t simple enough. I knew you were going to be looking for me. I just had to put cameras around the building, some soldiers… You were so stupid if you thought it was going to work ! I’m not stupid like you ! You disobeyed me. The kid paid for your mistake.”

The screen turned black for a second. The man was gone. Now Peter was sitting in front of the camera, with big bags under his hazel eyes.

“- You have some loyal friends, kiddo, I’ll give you that…”

Natasha started chewing her lower lip, sensing the anger in the man’s voice. Peter’s face lit up when he understood that the Avengers had been looking for him, making the man laugh.

“- What’s so funny ?”

“- You really think this so-called genius is going to come and save you ? He is never going to find you. No way.”

Bruce looked at Tony, who gulped with difficulty, unable to look anywhere but at the TV.

“- You see… I asked Stark… No, I expressly TOLD him to make a public announcement where he would say he was going to build weapons for me. But I guess he didn’t think I was serious. So I think now is the time to show him how serious I am about this…”

The genius shook his head. It was all his fault. He got interrupted n his thoughts when he heard Peter calling for him.

“- Mister Stark ! I’m fine ! I’m totally fine, don’t worry about me !”, yelled the kid to the object.

“- Well, you are fine for now, but I doubt it will last…”

Clint’s head rose straight up. He had heard that tone of voice before, when he had been abducted during his numerous missions. It had never EVER been a good sign. And apparently, Natasha had made the same connection that he had done.

“- What are you going to do to me ?”

“- Stark and his team tried to find you. And because they are just a bunch of morons, they fell right into my trap. So now, I know that they were trying to find you instead of taking the deal. And they are going to pay for that. I’m afraid you are going to be the first to pay, my dear Mister Parker…”

Everybody stopped breathing in the room.

“- Break one of his wrist”

“- NO !”, yelled Tony, momentarily forgetting that the man couldn’t hear him.

“- Waitwaitwaitwait, this is one big misunderstanding !”

The scream that followed was just too much for the Avengers to bear. Bruce quickly covered his ears, while Steve, Nat, Thor and Clint were staring at the TV, looking ready to commit a murder. Tony was just too shocked to say or do anything.

“- Thank you Peter, I think that will do it. You were very cooperative”

That sentence seemed to break Tony out of his trance. He gritted his teeth, looking absolutely murderous.

“- Fuck you”

That made the Avengers smiled a little. That kid had some nerve.

“- Do you want me to break your other wrist, young man ? Because I have no problem doing it…”

“- Well, you better not do that, or I will personally break both of your wrists…”, murmured Clint.

“- Knock him unconscious and transfer him to the other room.

The team watched in horror as the man hit Peter’s head without a hint of hesitation.

“- Fucking bastard !” declared Steve.

“- Language Captain…”, replied Tony, without thinking.

The hooded man appeared again.

“- For every day that goes without you making your public announcement, I will break one of Peter’s bone. So, you better hurry up, mister Stark…”

The video stopped, leaving the team desperate.  
Suddenly, the genius smiled. He knew what he had to do.

“- What’s happening, my friend ?” asked Thor.

“- I got him. I GOT HIM !”, yelled Tony.

“- What ?”

“- JARVIS, launch my program of facial recognition on the man who knocked Peter unconscious, please.”

“- One moment, sir”, replied the AI.

“- Vanko made a terrible mistake showing me this video”, explained Tony. “This guy we see is probably the man who does all of his dirty work. Which means he probably has a criminal record. Which will give us precious informations !”

“- So we have a chance to find Peter soon ?”, asked Bruce, enthusiastic.

“- Damn right we do !”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys !  
> Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you like this story !  
> Love you !!!  
> Hawkeye_girl

“- Sir, I believe I have found your man.”

Tony rose his head, his eyes full of hope while Steve smiled a little. Bruce let out the breath he had been holding during the research.

“- Okay, JARVIS, tell me everything !”, ordered the genius.

“- According to the police files, this man is known as Norman Osborn. He was arrested several times for various crimes, such as theft, assault and murder.”

“- What a lovely guy…”, stated Tony, ironically.

“- He was in the army for ten years, where he worked in the same company that Aldrich Vanko did.”, JARVIS continued.

“- That’s where they met…”, guessed Bruce. “They probably realized back there that they were both sadists and became best friends…”

“- I found something else, sir.”, added the AI. “Norman Osborn owns a mansion that is a few hours away from here.”

The Avengers stood there, speechless. This was easy. It was probably too easy. Maybe Vanko had made a mistake. Maybe not.

“- We can’t take that chance…”, abruptly said Tony. “I don’t want Peter to get hurt again.”

After a short pause, the billionaire took a deep breath and announced to his team:

“- I will make that public statement on TV.”

“- Tony, you can’t work for that man. He is a terrorist, a criminal !” insisted Steve, desperately.

“- He will hurt Peter”, simply replied Stark. “I won’t play this psycho’s game.”

“- If you take his deal, you will.”, Natasha stated softly.

“- THEN WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ?”, yelled Tony, raising both of his hands in exasperation.

He stared at his team. All of them avoided eye contact. Except Clint.

“- What would you do if someone threatened to hurt Cooper ?”, asked the playboy.

“- That’s not fair, Tony…”, started the bowman.

“- I DON’T CARE !”, the inventor yelled. “WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?”

Without looking at anyone in particular, Barton replied:

“- I would do everything to make sure that he is totally safe…”

“- Then we agree on one thing.”, declared Stark before turning around.

“- But do you really think he is going to stop there ?”, asked the archer before Tony had the time to leave the room.

“- Clint has a point.”, explained Bruce. “Vanko wants to hurt you, Tony. Once you give him what he wants, nothing will stop him from killing Peter. He won’t kill him before he gets what he wants.”

Tony started chewing his lower lip. They were right. Unfortunately.

“- There is a possibility that this is not a trap, brother of iron.”, insisted Thor.

Letting out a sigh, Tony demanded:

“- Okay, suit up and everyone on the Quinjet in ten minutes. JARVIS, send me the coordinates !”

“- Already done, sir.”

 

Peter woke up. He wasn’t in the same room as before. He knew that because there was a small window on his right, providing a little light. Also, he wasn’t tied up to a chair anymore. Instead, his right hand was handcuffed to a pipe. His left hand hurt like hell every time he tried to move his arm a little. He was now sitting on a cold floor of concrete. Someone had brought a plate with a sandwich on it, and a glass of water. He tried to reach for it but his hand hurt just too much.

“- Come on, Spider-Man ! You can do it !”, he told himself.

Moving his wrist as little as possible, he grabbed the glass and shakily brought it to his lips. It hurt like when the hammer had hit its target but the cold liquid going down Peter’s sore throat made it worth it. He considered eating the sandwich now, but preferred to let his wrist rest a little after this effort.  
The young hero pulled on his handcuffed. It was solid: even with his exceptional strength, nothing happened… He was completely helpless.  
Moving a little so that his back was against the wall, he closed his eyes, trying not to cry. There wasn't really anything that he could do right now, so maybe he could sleep a little…

 

Nobody was speaking on the Quinjet. Bruce was putting a new bandage over Steve’s wound. Thanks to the serum, the super soldier was getting better faster than a normal human being, but the doctor had insisted that he needed another bandage if he wanted to fight.  
Thor was pacing, unable to stay sit. Nearly everybody on the plane could feel the anger flowing through his veins. As a reaction from the god’s wrath, Mjolnir was crackling, lightnings surrounding the hammer.  
Natasha wasn’t looking at anyone. The spy was inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying to keep her head clear before the battle they were going to have. They were going to win. They had to.  
Clint was driving, as usual. But this time, he was trying his very best to keep all of his focus on the driving. Because he knew that if he let his thoughts fly away, he would think of Peter. He would think of how alone and scared he probably was right now. And he would think of how he would have reacted if one of his own kids had been abducted. He would have gone mad.  
Tony was quiet. The talkative playboy didn’t feel like talking. He didn’t feel like joking, like he always did, especially when they were going to fight. Right now, he couldn’t joke. He didn’t even want to ask Clint when they were going to land. Because if Peter weren’t there, then he would lose another wrist…

“- What do we do if he isn’t there ?”, asked Thor all of a sudden.

Bruce elbowed him but it was too late. Tony felt his heartbeat increasing. His vision became blurry and he started suffocating. What if they didn't find him there ? What if they never found him ? What if he was already dead ?

“- ...ny ? ...ear me ?”

The playboy shook his head. He had to focus. He couldn’t have another panic attack right now. Hearing Bruce’s voice, he focused on it, trying to keep his breathing under control.

“- That’s it, follow my voice. You are going to be okay.”

Once the attack stopped, Stark quickly got up and went past the Avengers, to the end of the plane. He needed space. He needed to clear his head. Through the Quinjet window, he looked at the ground, miles and miles under him. He had never been scared of heights. It had always fascinated him, the gap between himself and the ground, as he got higher and higher with his armour.  
He got pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Barton’s voice:

“- Tony, we are almost there.”

There was a small pause and the archer announced:

“- According to JARVIS, there are around fourty people in that mansion… All armed.”

Tony felt his head spinning. This was it. Peter HAD to be there.

“- Well then, let’s kick their ass…”, ordered Tony through gritted teeth.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your kudos and especially your comments on the last chapter !  
> You guys are adorable and I love you !  
> Hawkeye_girl

“- What’s the plan, Cap ?”

The Avengers immediately stopped whatever they were doing to look at Tony. The billionaire never asked what the plan was. Usually, he just attacked the enemies, sometimes following one or two of Steve’s instructions.

“- The plan ? You never follow the plan…?”, asked Rogers, confused.

“- Yeah, because it’s funnier ! This isn’t funny. This is Peter being held prisoner. I’m not taking any chance. What is the plan, Captain ?”

Nodding, Steve took a deep breath before explaining how things were going to be:

“- Ok, so, according to JARVIS, everybody in this mansion is armed and waiting for us.”

“- Wait a minute”, interrupted Banner. “If everybody is armed, then Peter can’t be here. I mean, they are not going to give him a weapon…”

“- Vanko made a name for himself when he managed to create walls that block thermal energy…”, explained Natasha to the scientist. “Peter could very well be hidden behind one of these walls…”

“- But in that case, this means there could be more fighters !”, exclaimed Steve. “They could be hidden too !”

“- Dammit…”, muttered Tony, shaking his head. “We are completely blind…”

He suddenly punched the side of the Quinjet before letting out a cry of exasperation.

“- When will it stop ?! When will we have some peace ?!”

The playboy fell on his knees, and asked to no one in particular:

“- I just want peace… Why can’t I get some peace…?”

None of the Avengers spoke for a few minutes, Tony swinging his body back and forth and Banner pacing on the plane. Steve spoke up:

“- We have to go. We have to find Peter.”

“- We need a plan, Steve !”, insisted Tony.

“- I have a plan.”, answered the Captain. “Attack.”

“- That’s my line”, pointed out the genius, with a half-smile on his face.

He seemed to think for a minute, and then suddenly got up.

“- Okay then, we attack. But we should stay together at all time. They are much more than us. Splitting up would be a mistake. This way, we can have each other’s back.”

“- I agree.”, Steve nodded.

“- Okay Birdbrain, land the plane !”

“- At your service, Iron Can !”

The Quinjet landed without any trouble, a few miles away from the mansion. 

“- Bruce…”, started Steve.

“- Let me guess, Captain…”, interrupted the scientist. “Code green ?”

Rogers nodded. Bruce sighed, shaking his head. He hated it. Even if he had some kind of control over the other one, he still didn’t like letting it out. He took a deep breath and released the leash. Immediately, his eyes flashed green. The scientist let out a growl that wasn’t completely bestial but wasn’t completely human anymore. His veins turned greener and greener, his body grew bigger and bigger, and suddenly, the Hulk was standing, facing the Avengers.

“- Where Spider ?”, grunted the beast. “Hulk must save Spider. Hulk likes Spider.”

“- The Spiderling is held prisoner in this building, my friend.”, answered Thor, showing the mansion with his hammer.

He didn’t need to add more. The Hulk, started running toward the building, stomping over the trees that were in the way. Quickly, the Avengers followed him, flying or running, and soon they were all inside. There was a huge hole in the wall caused by the Hulk who was too big for the door, but that wasn’t the enemy’s only problem. In fact, it was the least of their problems right now. Actually, the fighters biggest problem was the six super heroes fighting them with all of their power.  
You could have thought that the Hulk and Thor were the ones doing the most damages with their incredible strength. However, it was in fact Tony who was causing the most troubles to the enemy. Iron Man was deploying all of his armor’s force. Blast after blast, the billionaire was taking down as many people as possible while small rockets were coming from his shoulders and killing the fighters.

“- Hey, Stark ! Be careful !”, warned Clint, after a rocket nearly exploded on him instead of the guy he was fighting.

But Tony wasn’t listening. They needed to find the kid, and they needed to find him quickly, or they would all die here.

“- Sir…”

“- Not now, JARVIS, I’m busy !”

“- But Sir…”

“- WHAT ?”

“- Sir, I believe the room is being filled with some kind of knockout gas…”

Tony looked around him. The room had been sealed by big metal panels, even the hole made by the Hulk. Some gas were indeed coming from the vents above the team.

“- JARVIS, filter the air coming in the armor.”

“- Already done, sir.”

“- Tony… What is… What is going on…”, came Natasha’s sleepy voice.

The playboy watched helplessly as both her and Clint fell unconscious to the ground, just like all the fighters in the room.

“- The gas… The serum is fighting the gas, Tony…”, Steve announced.

But a few seconds later, he collapsed too.

“- Thor, you are still with me ?”, asked Stark nervously.

“- I’m… I’m a god…”, answered the blond man. “I can… I can still fight…”

He staggered a little and fell too. On the other side of the room, the Hulk was shrinking, becoming littler and littler until he had Banner’s size. His skin became whiter and whiter until the Hulk was gone and Bruce was back. It didn’t take long until he fell, just like everyone else.  
Tony was standing amongst all those sleeping people, only awake because of his armor’s filter. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Had they just lost ? Just like that ? Just because of some stupid gas ?  
A blue hologram appeared right in front of him. Tony instantly recognized the man facing him.

“- Vanko”, he welcomed through gritted teeth.

“- Stark”, smiled the man. “It’s a pleasure to have you here, in my mansion !”

Tony didn’t bother replying. He had nothing to say. Not even a snarky comment. He just waited for Vanko to tell him what he wanted. The playboy didn’t wait for long.

“- You lost, Stark”, stated the man, savoring his victory. “So, why don’t you get out of your armor ?”

“- So that I fall asleep just like my friends ? No thanks ! I know I haven’t slept much this last few days, but I sleep much better in my own bed than on a cold floor !”

“- The alternative is me blowing up the mansion. While your friends AND PETER are still inside. Which means you all die.”, grinned Vanko.

Tony took a quick look at the man's face. He wasn’t bluffing… Slowly, Tony opened his armor. Almost instantly, he felt the gas irritating his nose. He didn’t try to fight. He wouldn’t give Vanko that pleasure. Slowly, he felt himself drifting away, and suddenly, his knees hit the floor. Everything turned black as he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, I'm a jerk... :D  
> Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment !


	10. Chapter 10

“-...ster Stark ?”

“-...ny ! ...ake up !”

Tony slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and his head hurt as if he was currently having the worst hangover ever. He blinked a few times, trying to get a better look at what was going on around him.

“- He’s awake ! Look, he’s awake !”

The genius’s heart missed a beat. It was impossible… This voice… Tony slowly turned his head. On his right were two people: Natasha and…

“-P… Peter ?”, asked Stark, holding back a sob.

He was right here. He was alive. The playboy tried to get up to check on the kid but got stopped. Tony took a look at his right wrist: it was handcuffed to a pipe, just like Natasha and Peter’s wrist. The billionaire grunted in exasperation before turning back to the boy.

“- Hey, Spider-Man.”, he greeted with a sarcastic smile. “You look like shit.”

God, he was so happy to see him alive ! He wanted so badly to hug him and to tell him everything was going to be okay… But that wasn’t possible right now, so he decided to distract Parker and to make him laugh. Or smile, at least.

“- I don’t know which day it is exactly, but I’ pretty sure you are late for my birthday…”, replied the kid with a sassy look on his smile.

"- You're right", admitted Tony. "Happy birthday."

The kid chuckled a little. Suddenly he crouched over his left wrist, his face reflecting pain.

“- Dammit”, Peter let out softly.

Natasha, who was closer to the teenager, reached out for him and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Peter relaxed a bit while Tony was clenching his fists. Those bastards were going to pay…

“- We are going to get you out of here, okay kiddo ? You are going to be okay, I promise !”

Spider-Man nodded quickly, his eyes full of tears.

“- Aaaaaw, that’s so cute”, came a voice from the shadows, on the other side of the cell.

Slowly, a shape came closer and closer, until the super heroes could see he man’s face.

“- Vanko… Nice to finally show up…”, declared Tony, his voice full of anger.

“- Wow, chill out, Stark ! I’m just trying…”

“- SHUT UP !”, roared the playboy. “YOU KIDNAPPED A GODDAMNED KID ! YOU HURT HIM ! AND YOU WANT ME TO CHILL OUT ?”

As he was yelling, Vanko barely raised an eyebrow and got closer to Peter. Seeing this, Stark immediately stopped his diatriba and whispered:

“- No… Don’t hurt him… Please don’t hurt him…”

The standing man smiled a little and, turning his head, called:

“- Osborn ? Get in here !”

“- No, please, don’t, please”, repeated Tony, over and over.

With a creak, the door opened and Osborn entered the room, a hammer in his hand. Seeing it, Tony slowly felt his heartbeat increasing and his vision became blurry.

“- No, no, no, please, please, don’t…”, he whined.

“- Are you ever going to yell at me again ?”, whispered Vanko in a soft voice.

“- I won’t, I swear I won’t…”

“- Good…, praised the other man with a sadistic smile. “And are you going to start building weapons for me ?”

“- I… I… I…”

“- I… I… I…?”, repeated Vanko, mockingly. “ANSWER MY QUESTION !”, he suddenly yelled, making the three Avengers cringe.

“- I will, I will !”, quickly replied Tony. “Just don’t touch the kid.”

“- Fine…”, smiled the man.

He turned towards his accomplice and ordered:

“- Free him. He is going to the workshop.”

Osborn crouched and took a key from his pocket. Meanwhile, Vanko took his gun off his belt and aimed for Peter.

“- If you try anything, he dies. If you behave, maybe he’ll live.”, he warned.

Once he was freed, the inventor carefully got up, raising his hands. Vanko turned to point the gun at him and, with a sign of the head, indicated the door to Tony. The genius started walking but stopped when he heard his enemy:

“- You know… I’m not sure you fully understand what this all means…”

“- I do”, nervously replied Stark.”Believe me I do.”

“- Naaaah…”, replied Vanko. “I think I should show you what the consequences could be…”

“- You said you wouldn’t kill the kid !”, yelled Tony.

“- Shhh… I said no yelling…”

The playboy lowered his voice.

“- Please, don’t hurt him…”

“- Ok.”

The billionaire let out a sigh of relief.

“- Shoot her.”

“- What ?”

Osborn quickly took the gun Vanko was handing to him. Aiming for Natasha’s head, he pulled the trigger. 

“- NO !”

Too late. There was now a red hole, right in the middle of the Black Widow’s forehead, a small drop of blood running from it. Tony blinked a few times. This wasn’t possible. Not like that. Turning his head, he saw the horrified look on Peter’s face, a small tear on his cheek.

“- Now, do you understand how things are, Stark ? Your people are in other cells, not far away, your precious little Peter is right in front of me. I own you. You are mine, all of you. And if you ever try ANYTHING against me… A member of your team will pay for it… Got it ?”

Unable to take his eyes off Natasha’s dead body, Tony nodded. He had no choice. He was stuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who watched the Walking Dead, I kind of tried to recreate the ending of season 6 with Negan's first appeareance. But in a nicer way. I mean, I only killed one person (for now).  
> Anyway, if you liked this chapter, leave a kudo and a comment  
> Love you (although I'm not sure if you will still love me after this chapter...)  
> Hawkeye_girl


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys !  
> Did you like my last chapter ? *innocent smile*  
> Well, if you liked this one, leave a kudo and a comment please ^^  
> Love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

Steve woke up. His head spinning, he sat down and tried to get up but got stopped by something around his right wrist. Turning his head, the soldier noticed that it was handcuffed to a pipe on the wall. Not far away from him, Barton was laying, still knocked out, his head resting on his shoulder.

“- Clint. Clint ! Wake up ! Wake up !!!”

The super soldier kicked the archer’s foot, wincing as the pain shot through his injured leg again. Clint rose his head a little, blinking rapidly. When he saw Steve, his eyes lit up.

“- Hey, Cap ! God, my head… Never felt like that since Nat dared me to drink ten beers…”

The bowman took a quick look around him. 

“- Where is everyone else ?”, he asked, looking concerned.

“- I don’t know”, sighed Rogers. “I have just woken up…”

“- Why did they put us together ? Where is Nat ? Did they…”

“- I don’t know, Clint, I don’t know…”

The archer opened his mouth again when they both heard yelling.

“- SHUT UP ! YOU KIDNAPPED A GODDAMNED KID ! YOU HURT HIM ! AND YOU WANT ME TO CHILL OUT ?”

“- It’s Stark’s voice”, stated Steve. “Looks like he is talking to Vanko…”

“- He shouldn’t be talking to that maniac with that tone… That asshole is not going to like it…”, pointed out Clint, biting his lower lip.

Steve didn’t answer, but a frown appeared on his face.

“- I hope Peter is okay… I don’t know what Tony would do if the kid was hurt…”, said the captain, in order to fill the silent around them.

“- I know. Trust me. He would go mad.”

With an interrogative look on his face, Rogers stared at the bowman but didn’t ask him any questions. It was none of his business. 

“- ANSWER MY QUESTION !”

The two Avengers shot a worried look at the wall where the yell was coming from. It seemed like Vanko was pissed. Really pissed.

“- I don’t know what is the question but Stark should answer quickly if he doesn’t want anyone to die…”, muttered Clint, tensed.

“- You said you wouldn’t hurt the kid !”, came the voice again.

“- He is with Peter ?”, suddenly realized the captain, half-happy, half-worried.

“- Yeah ! He is alive !”, smiled Barton.

Both of the Avengers were starting to feel a bit happier when they suddenly heard a “NO”, followed by a loud gunshot. And then nothing.

Nothing.

Just silence.

The two superheroes had stopped breathing. Tony had been the one who had yelled, meaning it was probably not him who had been shot. Because Stark was the kind of man who willfully accepted to lay his life for someone else. Just like he had in New-York, with that nuke.

“- Did they just kill… Did they just kill Peter”, muttered Barton, his eyes wide open, a horrified look on his face.

“- No.”, replied Steve. “No. No way. Vanko uses Peter as leverage, he wouldn’t kill him…”

“- Yes, but he has us now… Nothing stops that bastard from killing the kid now…”, insisted Clint.

Steve shook his head. Peter was dead. Vanko had killed the boy. In front of Tony. He turned his head when he heard footsteps coming near their cell. The door was made of iron bars, so the two men could see what was going on in the corridor.  
A few seconds later, Tony appeared, looking more dead than alive, his eyes cold and his skin pale, barely walking as he was held by a man Rogers recognized as Osborn. A few steps behind them, Vanko was following the men, cleaning his gun and whistling. 

“- Tony…”, called the captain.

The inventor turned his head and saw his friends in the cell. Looking directly at Barton, he gulped and announced, while being carried away by Osborn:

“- I’m sorry, Clint. I’m really sorry. I couldn’t save her…”

And then the genius was gone. Vanko stopped in front of the cell door and smiled.

“- You are Clint, right ?”, he asked, pointing his gun nonchalantly at the archer, who nodded, puzzled.

“- Yeah, heard you two were pretty close… You met her in Budapest, right ? When you were supposed to kill her, but instead brought her to SHIELD and made her one of the best spies the world would ever see…”

The bowman started to feel a huge knot forming in his throat. This wasn’t possible. The gunshot… No, it wasn’t possible.

“- What… What have you done…?”, stuttered Clint, his voice trembling.

“- Well, I did what I had to do to ensure Stark’s full cooperation…”, simply answered Vanko, looking at his nails.

“- YOU BASTARD ! I’M GONNA KILL YOU MYSELF, WITH MY BARE HANDS !”, screamed Barton, pulling on his handcuff as hard as he could, even if it made his wrist bleed.

“- I suggest you calm down, or I’m going to have to shoot you friend”, calmly answered Vanko, while pointing the gun at Steve.

Clint stopped yelling, his breathing heavy and his eyes shooting lightings.

“- You are dead…”, he whispered through gritted teeth.

“- Nope. But your friend is.”, sang Vanko, still smiling.

Putting his gun back in his belt, the man walked away, whistling.

“- He is dead”, repeated Clint, looking right in front of him. “I’m gonna kill him. Slowly.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter ! Enjoy and don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you like me torturing your faves ! :D  
> Love you 3000  
> Hawkeye_girl

Bruce woke up. His head hurt like every time after the Hulk left, but this time was different. This time it was worse. Squinting his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened before he collapsed. The Hulk had ran into a building with the rest of the team, had fought a couple of soldiers, and then… Then the gas had knocked him out.  
Banner shook his head to clear his blurry vision. He was in a room with white walls and a heavy metallic door without window. The walls seemed large and solid. The scientist turned his head and saw his right hand handcuffed to a pipe.  
He had nothing to lose. With a growl, he closed his eyes and tried to draw from within himself the anger that was always there, in his guts. It worked. Slowly, Bruce felt the monster taking over the body they shared. The doctor voluntarily stepped back and allowed the beast to grow bigger and bigger, until the Hulk was there.  
But something felt wrong. The Hulk turned his head as pain came from his right wrist and saw what was going on. The handcuff was preventing the expansion of the Hulk’s body. His arm was stuck, still half human as it couldn’t reach its full potential.

“Let me come back”, whispered the human voice in the beast’s head.

“- NO ! HULK WANTS FREEDOM !”

“You can’t get free.”, replied the voice in his head, slightly irritated. “I think it’s vibranium. If it is, you are only going to hurt both of us. Let me come back !”

Growling in exasperation, the Hulk close his eyes and tried to relax. He could hear the red-headed girl saying “the sun’s getting real low”. At first, the girl needed to say it to calm the Hulk down. Now, he just had to imagine it. Hulk like the red-headed girl. Not as much as tiny Banner, of course, but still…  
With a sigh of relief, Bruce came back, his body shrinking down. Taking a look at his arm, he saw how swollen and bruised it was now, after the Hulk had tried to get free. Leaning forward, the scientist inspected the handcuff. It was indeed vibranium.

There was no way he could get free from that handcuff.

And even if he could, the walls were too big, and the door was probably made of vibranium too…

The doctor sighed. At least he hoped everyone else in the team was okay… Especially Nat…  
Suddenly, he rose his head. He was pretty sure there was shouting coming from the wall on his left, even though he couldn’t hear anything that was said. He put his ear against the wall, but it was too thick. The doctor leaned back on the wall behind him and closed his eyes. The only thing he could do right now was to rest, so he might as well do that.  
His eyes shot straight open when he heard the gunshot. The sound was muffled by the walls, but Bruce was sure it was a gunshot. He had heard enough of them when he had tried to kill himself, again and again.  
His breathing accelerated as his thoughts were racing. Not being able to know what was going on was infuriating !

“HULK WANTS TO GET OUT ! HULK WANTS TO GO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON !”

“- Shut up, Hulk !”, demanded Banner, exasperated. “There is nothing we can do right now… We have to wait for an opportunity…”

“Hulk doesn’t like waiting…”

“- I know… Neither do I, buddy…”, replied the worried scientist.

 

Thor woke up. Looking around him, he noticed he was in a room with big white walls and a metallic door. His hand was handcuffed to a pipe. When he tried to pull on the cuff, nothing happened. It didn’t break, even with the immeasurable strength of the nordic god.  
Opening his palm, the blond man closed his eyes and summoned his hammer. Nothing came.  
The god felt his heart hammering in his chest. Wasn’t he worthy anymore ? Because he hadn’t succeeded in saving the Spiderling ? Thor shook his head, chasing this thoughts away. Mjolnir was probably locked up somewhere… Probably in a room made of the same metal that was chaining him to the pipe.  
All of a sudden, a small bang echoed faintly in the room. Like someone had used fireworks not far away…  
The god frowned. It could be fireworks, but he doubted it was. And if it wasn’t… If it wasn’t, it was probably a gunshot… Thor pulled on his handcuffed, harder, hurting his arm. He had to get free. He had to see what was going on. Someone in the team was probably hurt. He had to save them !  
His efforts didn’t pay.  
He was trapped in his cell.

 

Peter couldn’t take his eyes away from the dead body. This corpse used to be his aunt. His friend. His ally. And now she was dead, a look of surprise stuck on her face and a red hole in her forehead.  
The kid had heard the yelling coming from the cell next to his. He had recognized Clint’s voice, how angry and desperate it had been. But the young hero hadn’t been able to understand a word of what the archer had shouted. Everything had sounded so fuzzy and muffled… He was trapped in a cell with the dead body of a friend, the rest of his friend were trapped too, his mentor was now working for the man who was responsible of all this,... How could any of this go wronger ? Even the pain in his wrist was numb now, seeming so futile next to the hole left by Natasha’s death.

“- Kiddo ? Can you hear me ?”

The shout pulled Peter out of his thoughts. Noticing tears were running down his cheeks, the teenager carefully wiped them with his sleeve and got as close as he could from the door and answered:

“- Clint ? Is that you ?”

Parker could have sworn he heard Barton’s relieved sigh from his cell.

“- Yeah, I’m with Cap ! God, I’m so happy you are alive…”

The boy didn’t reply. He was glad Clint and Steve were okay, but he didn’t know what to say about Natasha. I’m sorry ? Yes, of course he was sorry, that was obvious, but that also sounded so stupid… So he didn’t say anything.

“- Peter ?”, came the voice again.

“- Yeah ?”

“- Is Nat… Is Nat with you ?”, asked Clint’s strangled voice.

The kid cast a look at the body next to him. The red-headed girl was extremely pale and her eyes were empty of any form of emotion. Peter gulped with difficulty before answering:

“- Yes… Yes, she is right next to me…”

“- Did she… Did she suffer ?”

Peter could tell that Clint was crying by now. He could barely hear his sobs, but his voice was full of tears. He looked again at the spy with the red hole in her forehead.

“- No. She didn’t.”

“- Thanks Pete.”, said Steve, answering for Barton, who couldn’t talk with the huge knot in his throat.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys !  
> How are you ?  
> Here is a new chapter, leave a kudo and a comment if you liked it !  
> Love you  
> Hawkeye_girl

Tony was walking, only half-conscious about what was happening. Natasha was dead. She was dead because she had tried to save Peter, who had been abducted because of his connection to Stark. Which meant it was all Tony’s fault.  
Suddenly the inventor realized that he had arrived in a large room, full of things the billionaire would have loved to play with if it had been a normal day. But this wasn’t a normal day, and the genius was certainly not in the mood to play…  
The cold barrel of the gun on his neck made Tony shiver.

“- Move”, ordered Vanko, his tone as icy as his weapon.

Gulping, Tony took a few hesitant steps until he was close enough to the table in the center of the room. On it, there was a lot of things, all designed to create weapons.  
The inventor wanted to throw up. This was wrong. This was terribly wrong. Tony tried to relax. Now wasn’t the time to get a panic attack. Looking around him to distract himself, he noticed that a lot of the guards he had been fighting previously were now surrounding him, at a reasonable distance to let him work and to watch him at the same time.

“- Go on”, asked his enemy, still menacing him with his weapon. “Start working.”

As the playboy wasn’t moving, he got closer to him and whispered:

“- If you refuse, I’ll shoot the boy…”

Tightening his jaw, Stark took one of the pieces on the table to examine it.

“- I’m going to need a soldering gun…”, he stated drily.

One of the soldiers immediately left the room and came back a few minutes later with the required object. Tony grabbed it and started working without looking at anyone, his entire mind focused on his task.

“- Good…”, grinned Vanko before leaving the room, letting Osborn supervise the whole thing. 

Aldrich had more important things to do. Arriving in front of a cell, he unlocked it and took a quick look. The scientist, Bruce Banner apparently, was still handcuffed to the wall. The vibranium was effective against the green beast. Perfect.  
Hearing the door being unlocked, Bruce raised his head and saw Vanko, who could have sworn the doctor’s eyes had flashed green for a split second.

“- What do you want ?”, attacked the scientist breathing heavily. “You are going to torture me ? Just like you tortured a kid ?”

“- I’m so sorry, doctor Banner, I think we have started off on the wrong foot… How about that: I’m Aldrich Vanko…”

“- I know who you are”, interrupted Bruce tiredly.

“- And I’m here to offer you a job.”

“- What ?”

The scientist stared at the arm dealer in disbelief. A job offer ?

“- I thought you could be a great asset on the battlefield”, grinned Vanko. “Your ability to… “smash” people and things is very interesting…”

Aldrich was smiling widely at the doctor but his grin quickly disappeared as Banner started to laugh uncontrollably.

“- May I know what’s so funny ?”, asked Vanko through gritted teeth.

“- Well”, replied Bruce with a snarky smile. “When he heard your offer, Hulk replied that he doesn’t want to smash people and things. He says he’d rather smash the “tiny arrogant man who thinks he can impress Hulk”. I think that if I ever let him out, he’d probably kill you…”

Aldrich pursed his lips.

“- Well, sadly this means you can’t be useful to me…”, declared Vanko before taking his gun. And shooting the doctor.

He was about to leave the room when he noticed something. Banner’s body was starting to grow and to turn green. Slightly intimidated, the chief of the police took a few steps back as the Hulk was appearing in front of him. The beast grunted as pain rose again in his arm because of the vibranium handcuff. Vanko opened his mouth in disbelief as he noticed that the hole in the Hulk’s forehead had disappeared. His disbelief grew bigger as the beast in front of him simply spat the bullet that was supposed to kill the scientist.

“- TINY ARROGANT MAN TRIED TO KILL BANNER ! HULK MAD NOW ! ARROGANT MAN IS GOING TO PAY !”

The monster tried to reach for Vanko, who quickly jumped out of his reach, a smug smile on his face.

“- So this is true… You can’t die… Interesting…”

“- NO !”, suddenly yelled the Hulk. “BANNER MUSTN'T COME BACK ! ARROGANT MAN WANTS TO HURT BANNER !”

The beast shook its head, trying to fight before giving up. Slowly, Bruce reappeared, panting.

“- Okay”, declared Vanko, clapping his hands. “Successful test !”

“- Test ?” laughed Bruce. “You shot me to see if I would die ?”

“- Yup. And it also proved me that the monster will never obey me… So, here is the deal: you work for me with Stark to build chemical weapons, or I kill the kid !”

The scientist opened his mouth, astounded. Tony had agreed to work for that guy ? Vanko had probably used the kid against him…

“- I can go and bring back the boy’s corpse if you want.”, innocently offered Aldrich.

“- Nonononononono”, quickly declared Banner. “No need. I’ll work for you.”

“- Good. You will understand that I have to knock you unconscious first, so that I can handcuff both of your hands, to prevent any attack from the Hulk, right ?”

“- Do what you need to do”, sighed Banner.

“- Perfect !”, smiled the man before turning around and leaving the room.

Once the door was closed, the room was quickly filled with gas, the same gas that had been used against the whole team. Immediately, it irritated the scientist’s eyes and nostrils.  
Bruce didn’t even try to fight. He knew it was useless. Slowly, he felt himself drifting away and soon, he was asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys !  
> Sorry, it's been a few days but it was my exams period and then I spent the week-end relaxing a litte.  
> So here you go !  
> Tell me what you think about this chapter, don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment if you liked it. Or even if you didn't like it.  
> Love you !  
> Hawkeye_girl

“- Something is wrong”, whispered Steve, frowning.

Sitting next to him, Clint shook his head and asked sarcastically, his voice trembling:

“- What, you mean the fact that a teenager has been abducted and physically and emotionally tortured ? Or the fact that one of the greatest minds on Earth is now working for the biggest asshole in the whole universe ? Or the fact that said asshole KILLED NAT ?”

Breathing heavily, the archer spoke again, this time on a calmer tone:

“- Everything is goddamn wrong here, Rogers…”

The archer started to laugh hysterically before breaking down sobbing.

“- Everything is wrong…”, choked the bowman. “And I couldn’t do anything to stop any of this…”

With a sad look on his face, Steve patted his friend on the shoulder, trying to provide him some comfort before declaring:

“- All of this is absolutely wrong, Clint, but I’m talking about something else.”

After a small pause, the super soldier took a deep breath and announced:

“- How the hell did Vanko know about Peter and Spider-Man being the same person ? It’s his secret identity, we are the only ones, with May, to know about it. And how did he know about Budapest ? We are the only ones you told that story, right ?”

Slowly, Clint rose his head, a horrified look on his face.

“- You’re saying there is a traitor in the team ? Someone who works for Vanko ?”

“- I’m saying it’s a possibility…”, replied a resolved Steve Rogers.

“- And you don’t think that could be me ?”, interrogated Barton.

“- Vanko wouldn’t have killed Natasha if you worked for him”, simply answered the soldier without looking at his friend. “You two are way too close to get the other killed like that.”

“- Then who ?”, sighed Clint, feeling more and more exhausted.

“- He agreed to work for Vanko…”, said Steve, lost in his thoughts.

The archer rose his head to meet the captain’s eyes.

“- What… You think Stark did it ?”, he asked, incredulously.

“- Like I said, he agreed to work for Vanko”, bitterly explained Rogers.

“- But you’ve seen how broken he looked less than half an hour ago ! You’ve seen how he reacted when Peter got abducted ! You’ve seen his panic attacks ! That’s not something you can fake !”

“- Maybe not”, agreed Steve, not looking convinced.

 

Bruce woke up, feeling the cold metal around of the handcuffs around both of his wrists. His head spinning, he got back to his feet, only to notice Vanko standing in front of him, a smirk on his face.

“- Slept well ?”

The scientist answered with a grunt, making Aldrich laugh a little.

“- Okay, big guy, show-time ! Follow me !”

That’s when Banner noticed the three men, holding big rifles, waiting for him next to the door. Sighing, Bruce started walking. A few minutes, the five men arrived in a room that looked like a workshop. Inside, the doctor noticed there were a lot of soldiers, Osborn, and…

“- Tony ?”

“- Bruce…”, replied the inventor when he spotted his friend. “Oh my God, Bruce, I’m so sorry…”

“- Tony, what’s going on ?”, asked a worried Banner when he saw how pale and miserable Stark was.

“- Nata… Natasha…”, started the billionaire before getting interrupted.

“- You are not here to chat !”, declared Vanko, clapping his hands. “Go to work !”

“- No, wait, what happened to Natasha ?”, inquired the doctor, feeling his heart racing.

He tried to slow down his breathing, to keep control over the Hulk, to calm down. Surely, nothing too bad had happened. But suddenly, Bruce remembered.

“- Does it have ANYTHING to do with that gunshot I heard earlier ?”, he asked, his voice trembling and his hands shaking.

“- Bruce, I’m so sorry”, started Tony.

“- YOU KILLED HER ?”, roared Bruce, throwing himself forward to punch Vanko, who simply laughed as three guards pushed the doctor back.

“- Yeah. I did. And you know what ? I liked it. And the truth is, I didn’t even kill her, Osborn did.”

“- On YOUR command !”, shouted Banner, a tear rolling down his cheek, while Stark was trying to calm him down.

“- All that yelling is really starting to annoy me…”, stated Vanko, grabbing his gun. “Keep going and I will…”

“- Kill me ?”, attacked Banner. “You already tried. And you failed.”

“- WHAT ?!”, exclaimed Stark, astounded.

“- Yeah, yeah”, answered Aldrich, nonchalantly. “It was just to prove my theory. Anyway, I know I can’t kill you, but I still can kill your buddy here.”

Saying that, the man pointed his gun at Tony, who immediately froze. Casting a look at his friend, Bruce slumped down and shook his head before grabbing a screwdriver and starting working.

“- I knew we would find an agreement !”, smiled Aldrich, putting his gun back in his belt. “I’m going to check on our little spider to see how he is going !”

Tony closed his eyes. This was a nightmare. This was a freaking nightmare and he was going to wake up any second now. It had to be a nightmare.   
The genius immediately opened his eyes when he felt someone slapping the back of his head.

“- No sleeping here”, threatened Osborn. “Get back to work. There are two of you now. It should go faster.”

Gulping, the genius got back to work, trying to ignore his friend quietly crying next to him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys !  
> I know, it's been a long time, but I needed to take a little break from this fic, for its own good.  
> Anyway, here you go !  
> Have fun reading, cry, and leave a kudo and a comment (I try replying to all of them and they mean soooooo much to me)  
> Love you !!!  
> Hawkeye_girl

Aunt May’s smile. It was the only thing that made him want to keep fighting: the hope that, someday, he would see her smile again. One day, after this nightmare had ended, he would walk to the door of their apartment, he would open it, walk inside, and she would see him. And she would smile that specific warm, relieved smile she wore every time he came back from one of his missions as Spiderman.  
Peter broke out of his reverie as he hear his doorcell opening. Vanko got inside, happily whistling, closed the door behind him, and leaned on the wall, looking at Peter. He took a few minutes to examine his prisoner before declaring:

“- Your father figure has agreed to work for me. The ugly green beast who also happens to be a not too bad scientist is also working for me. Your favorite redhead is dead… Your friends are locked up in cells, just like you… I have to say, the situation doesn’t look really good for you…”

“- Wha… What do you mean ?”, confusedly asked Peter, his mind numb from the physical and psychological pain.

“- I mean”, explained Aldrich, taking his time, as if he were speaking to a toddler, “that you, Peter Parker, are not useful to me anymore. I have all the Avengers in the palm of my hand, and I only have to close it to crush them all. So what am I supposed to do with you ?”

“- But… But I…”, Peter was desperately racking his brain, trying to find something to say. “But I’m your leverage !”

“- You were”, admitted Vanko. “But now I can use your friends against each other. And I can always pretend that you are still alive and use your death as a threat…”

He would never see Aunt May’s smile again…

“- However…”, started Vanko.

“- Yes ?”

“- You could fight for me.”

It took Peter a moment to register the information. When it happened, his eyes went wide in horror.

“- Never !”

“- Then I’ll kill your dear Captain friend.”, stated Vanko, grabbing his gun from his belt.

“- No ! Don’t ! I… I will work for you…”, Said Peter miserably.

“- Good ! Doctors will come to look at your wrist. You’ll probably be able to us it in two or three weeks.”

“- Thanks… I guess”, muttered Peter once Vanko had left the room.

The chief of the police had only gone a few cells away. When Clint spotted him, it took all of his self-control to not call Vanko a large variety of insulting nicknames that would probably cause his death and Steve’s one. Instead, he only sarcastically asked:

“- Came to give us lunch ? I’m afraid I’m not really hungry… But some fighting would definitely give me quite an appetite !”

“- Always so funny, mister Barton… I see why our dear friend Natasha liked you…”

“- Don’t you dare”, hissed Clint, throwing himself forward so quickly that Vanko backed off a few steps before remembering the archer couldn’t hurt him. “Don’t you dare say her name.”

“- I didn’t come here to fight”, declared Vanko. “I’m here to ask you to work for me.”

“- W… What ? You really think I would work for you after what you did to Nat ? YOU SCUMBAG !”

 

“- I wasn’t asking you”, calmly replied Vanko, who pointedly looked at Steve. “What would I do with a mere human being with no real super power when I can have a supersoldier ?”

Both Clint and Steve looked like they had been punched in the guts. The captain cleared his throat before asking:

“- And what makes you think I would work for you ?”

“- Well… That’s simple: if you don’t, I’ll kill this useless so-called superhero just like I killed his friend.”

“- Steve…”

The super soldier turned his head and looked at his friend. Clint’s eyes were full of tears and he was clenching his fists so hard his knuckles were totally white.

“- Please, don’t accept… Let him kill me… He is right, I’m not even useful to the team… Nat was worth so much more than me...”

“- Clint, listen to me”, ordered the captain. “LISTEN TO ME ! There is a reason you are an Avenger. You are the best marksman I have ever seen. You are an incredibly kind person -which is not a weakness, unlike what some people may think-, you have recruiting skills, and you are one of the best fighters in the world.”

When he saw that his words were starting to have an effect on the bowman, the soldier continued:

“- It’s not your fault Nat died.”

When he saw his friend was about to disagree, Steve continued:

“- It’s called survivor guilt. I’ve seen it during World War II. You feel guilty because you are alive and Nat is not. But that’s not your fault. That’s HIS fault.”

Saying that, Steve indicated Vanko, who chuckled:

“- Are you done ? Can we go now ? Or do I have to shoot this moron ?”

“- We can go”, answered Rogers through gritted teeth. “But insult my friends only once again and…”

“- Yeah, yeah”, interrupted Vanko. “Let’s go…”

“- No, you listen to me”, insisted Steve. “You insult my friends just once more and when I get free I’ll personally deliver you to Clint and I won’t stop him from getting his revenge, which is what I would have done if you hadn’t killed one of us and insulted another.”

Hearing that, the archer rose his head and met Vanko’s eyes who suddenly looked a little unsure. And maybe just a little scared.


End file.
